First World War Letters from Harold McGill to Emma Griffis

I did not have any letters from you for 3 days but this morning was made very happy by the receipt of those you wrote on May 28, 28 &30 respectively.

Well, I managed to get up to the C.C.S. and see Margaret yesterday afternoon. She is in good health and spirits and is still on night duty. She expects to have another week of it. I reached the C.C.S. at about 4 p.m. and had tea with the sisters. After the tea we went to a concert given by the 3rd Cdn. Division entertainment party. The show was very good and well worth one’s while. After the show Major Bell, who was with me, and I had dinner with the O.C.C.C.S. and then sat in the sisters’ lounge until eleven p.m. when it was time to take our departure. Fortunately the unit was not taking in yesterday or last night and Margaret was not busy. I saw Miss Lynch who is looking very well indeed.

Margaret is quite concerned about the long hours of duty that you are doing and I fear from what I gather from your letters to day that her anxiety is quite justified. My dear I do not want you to get tired out. I do not understand why it should be necessary for you to return to the wards after 9 p.m. Of course if you were in a hospital giving active treatment I could understand everyone having to do extra hours during a rush but I fail to see why such a thing should be part of the regular routine in a convalescent hospital.

The sisters have very nice quarters prettily situated and their only fear is that they may have to move. The Huns have been bombarding the town but none of the shells have fallen near the hospital. There are also enemy planes around nearly every night but up to date they have done no damage. The search lights got on to one large bombing plane the other night and one of our fighters who was up shot him down. The nurses were all out watching the fight. The Hun came down in flames. One of the crew jumped out and was killed of course, and 3 charred bodies were found in the wreckage.

It was quite cold enough for Alberta last night. We had a long weary ride home after dark but reached our destination without any mishap. I came away with out my stick though.

You asked me about Al Spencer. He was slightly wounded up the line somewhere by a shell but I do not think his injuries were severe enough to require his evacuation.

I have heard that there is a Canadian mail in the war zone but none of it has come our way yet.

Your letter of May 20 came yesterday and the one written on May 22 to-day. I was much interested in your account of the bombing raid on London. It must have been a bad business by all accounts but it is satisfactory to know that a number of Hun planes were brought down. The raid on the Base hospital was a much worse affair and I fear that there were quite a few casualties among the nurses. The Germans that were captured from the plane that was brought down should have been turned over to the Chinese coolies for proper treatment. The Huns bombed a Chinese camp over here not long ago. The Celestials didn’t take this in a meek spirit by any means. They got possession of a bunch of Mills grenades and paid a visit to an adjoining German Prisoners’ compound. This is the way the story goes but of course I cannot vouch for its accuracy. It is nice though to think of the Chinamen lobbing bombs over the wire fence among the unspeakable Huns.

I have just finished a letter to Enid. I rather excelled myself, having written 7 pages. There is really not much to write about but sometimes I hit a piece of good going and write a somewhat bulky if not good letter.

Am very happy to know that you are beginning to like your new sphere of endeavor. Your first letter was not very full of promise regarding your expectations in that regard. It will be nice if you can stick it until I get over on leave. I really expect to get over long before November. Leave will likely open after the next Hun offensive, i.e. unless he drives us to the sea and I don’t think he can do that.

A Storytelling Blog

The Dear Miss Griffis blog shares the personal and real stories of Calgary doctor Harold McGill from World War One. A letter written to his friend (and future wife) Emma Griffis will be posted every week. This storytelling blog was started by the Glenbow Museum in March 2006.